...
...
You'll see me in hindsight,
Tangled up with you all night
Burning it down.
Someday when you leave me,
I bet these memories
Follow you around.
...
...
...
10 years passed, with hardly a word between Ichigo and Rukia.
There were plenty of messages, sure- mostly through Orihime or through Renji. It was just too weird to try talking to Rukia directly after all this time. She hadn't even contacted him after Kazui was born, instead only speaking to Orihime on the phone and exchanging baby pictures of the two kids.
He couldn't really blame her. In the end, there was just too much left unsaid between them, things that had never been discussed. Neither had ever gotten closure. There was too much time lost between them and too much that could bubble up if they ever tried. Meeting her, even seeing her again in person could be disastrous, he felt.
But even that couldn't be put off forever, when Orihime suggested that they invite them all over to watch Chad's boxing match, since "Everyone else would be here, too!"- everyone meaning Tatsuki, Keigo, Uryu, and Mizuiro.
It wasn't like he could tell her no, please don't invite my ex-lover to my house, it's too awkward and there's too much tension. Instead, he shrugged and said it was up to her, which only made Orihime more delighted to invite them- which she did.
The day came and the weather was perfect- too perfect for him. Beautifully sunny, a soft breeze, the sun was out but it wasn't very hot outside. He did his very best to not come off awkwardly when he greeted Rukia and Renji at the door. But he found it was not as difficult to act normal as it had been last time- last time, he winced, which had been at their wedding.
But somehow, it was like they forced a reset to go back to the way they were before things became... romantic. He would argue with her, she would tease him, he would scoff at her weird jokes, she would get in his face.
It was weird, how normal it felt after all this time. Like it was a part of their daily lives.
Somehow, the odd one out this time wasn't them, but Uryu, who hadn't even shown up on account of "being busy". He didn't really understand that, because Uryu was very successful and could have probably gotten the time off if he wanted to... but he didn't. In fact, he hadn't seen Uryu since the day he attended his and Orihime's very small wedding dinner at home.
He did not want to think about what the reason could be for the distance.
Ywach was dead.
Well, dead was, maybe, too specific of a word. No one was sure how or why. The readings that the 10th division had been closely tracking all these years, meticulous in their efforts, all came to a close at once- the same day, apparently, one Rukia Kuchiki went to visit the living world with her husband and child for the first time in 10 years.
Nobody seemed to notice that coincidence, though.
And there was no definitive answer, which was most frustrating of all. At once, every detail and note that the gotei had been tracking had suddenly vanished into thin air. It made no sense.
But it was true. Ywach was gone, forever.
Rukia went home that day from reading the report in her captain's office and sank down onto the futon in her room, her hands going over her eyes as they filled with tears.
After all this time, and everything she and Renji had given up.. it was finally over.
They could be free.
4 years later, the year Ichika turned 14, her parents got a divorce.
It was definitely seen as news, at least in the Soul Society. It wasn't exactly normal for women to get divorced, more specifically women of nobility, who were meant to stick with the man they married no matter what happened or changed.
Rukia, however, had never been the typical noble lady, despite all of the quiet grace, poise, and elegance she possessed.
It was not easy on her on any account- she considered herself incredibly lucky that she and Renji had an understanding about their marriage and their relationship that no one else did, and she found that after almost 15 years of living with a secret, she no longer strived to meet the unspoken expectations that everyone else set for her.
Renji had been her sole confidant for the past 14 years- and their divorced wouldn't change too much, other than their marital status. She knew Renji had long accepted that she would never be in love with him the way a spouse should love a spouse. They both knew the reason why they did what they did, and neither had any regrets- especially once their child came into the picture.
The night they had spoken about it they'd cried in each other's arms and promised to never stop being friends, no matter what happened. Renji had whispered that he loved her, and he always would, and when she said it back to him, she meant it. As her childhood friend, as the father of her child, and as the single person she had relied on to make one of the most difficult decisions in her life- to let the love of her life go.
Nothing would change what he had done for her.
Ichika was a different story. Rukia loved her daughter more than anyone else in the world, and the idea of her mother and father no longer being together distressed her greatly. Both she and Renji worked together tirelessly to help her understand that even if they didn't live in the same house anymore, it didn't mean that things would change or that she would be loved less. It would take a long time for Ichika to come to terms with her new reality. The girl still showed incredible resilience, and Rukia admired her greatly.
There was one last change she knew she needed to make.
Rukia needed to find her own place.
It wasn't like she was being chased out of the Kuchiki manor. Nor did she feel uncomfortable living there since Renji also lived there, even though they were no longer together- it was more like she had reached an age- or rather, a maturity- to where she desired her own space... a place that was hers, and hers only.
Rukia had been saving money since she had joined the Gotei 13- unseated members got paid a very meager salary, but her position and a vice-captain, and then captain- which she had been in much longer- she had been able to save a lot of money, especially as Nii-sama never let her spend money on things she needed, and always gave her money for things she needed, though she never asked.
Even after all this time, it was often a striking difference from how she had grown up.
Now, she finally knew what she wanted to do- build her own home. A place for her to exist, just in herself, by herself. She gathered the old manga that had been collecting dust in the back of her closet for the past 15 years, going through them for inspiration for designs. She settled on something elegant- white marble, pillars that would frame the front doorway, and a fountain. It was a smaller idea at first, but was predictably expanded on her brother's insistence that a noble woman should have a home suitable for her. And since Rukia had a vision for a home that was not the traditional style of nobles' homes, he insisted on adding features that would ensure no one
It was not very far from the compound, so that she could be at the Kuchiki manor whenever she needed, and Ichika could be there by shunpo within a few minutes. But it was still in an area that had more woods and less homes, which meant that she had no neighbors next door. She was happy with that; it meant that solitude would be assured for her.
It was the backyard she put the most personal choice into, dividing it out into a large space with a winding path, trickling koi pond and a stone waterfall feature, sakura trees, and a garden space with dirt patches for her to plant things.
The entire project was completed within 6 months- that was the perk of having the Kuchiki-clan head as your brother- and Rukia moved. She drowned herself in her hobbies and her solitude, excepting the days Ichika would stay with her. Then, they would spar together, garden, read manga or watch something together.
She didn't regret her choice, in the end. Most of the whispers after her divorce blamed her, not Renji, and Rukia was grateful for that. It was typical of the overly traditional nobles to blame the street-raised, non-blood rat for not knowing how to be a proper wife- the thought made Rukia laugh. She was long used to bearing the brunt of nasty rumors, and had grown past them affecting her.
Loneliness knocked on Rukia's door; she welcomed her old friend with open arms.